Re: Bill Gates wants to put you in jail

[Jordan Pollack <pollack@cs.brandeis.edu>]

  >Penance for Pirates
  >by Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com)
  
  I brought the "No Electronic Theft" bill up on AM-Info the day after
  it passed congress.  Money can certainly buy laws.  Just like dope
  possession or tax evasion, if the govt wants you, it can scan your
  hard disk or your video library.
  
  read it at: http://www.tndagc.com/juryinst/39_02.htm
  
  The operative phrase is extending "financially benefit" from those
  selling illegally copied IP to individuals illegally "receiving" IP.
  (obviously you financially benefit by saving the license fees you would
  otherwise pay).
  
  With this law, and the "no receipt of cellular calls" crisis following
  Gingrich's embarrassment in florida, a law in tennesee for instance
  (http://www.tndagc.com/juryinst/39_02.htm), it may be time for ACLU to
  reassert OUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT TO RECEIVE, AND KEEP PERSONAL USE
  COPIES, OF ALL BROADCAST INFORMATION. You can't resell it, but you can
  keep and use it. You can tape off the TV. You can tape off the
  radio. You can receive police radar speed signals.
  
  You can be arrested for illegally hooking into cable tv, running a
  second feed, or using third party decryption for premium channels. 
  
  My view is You should be able to receive and decrypt (if you can:) satellite TV
  signals, you can keep personal copies of the information downloaded
  from websites. 
  
  I guess if someone broadcasts stolen information on an unlicensed
  channel, like lamacchia, you might not be entitled to keep it, tho.
  
  Professor Jordan B. Pollack   DEMO Laboratory, Volen Center for Complex Systems
  Computer Science Dept, MS018  Phone (617) 736-2713/Lab x3366/Fax x2741
  Brandeis University           website: http://www.demo.cs.brandeis.edu
  Waltham, MA 02254             email: pollack@cs.brandeis.edu